Wednesday, April 10, 2013

“Your Content Strategy Should Be as Easy to Articulate as a Children’s Story Book”

Children's book authors may point out that a children's book is hardly easy to create; however, a good children's book flows in an manner that's easy to read and understand. Stefanos Karagos believes you should approach your social media with a plan in mind. Create content that matters; don't just spam your Facebook page with photos. He has an excellent slideshow that demonstrates his viewpoint (no, seriously, it's a very cool slideshow!) Take a look below:

Monday, April 8, 2013

Today I'm reading an interview with Zoe Tucker, an Art Director at Alison Green Books. One of the first things she says about the children's book process is something I hear repeated time and time again:

"Well, in a nutshell, it all begins with a good story."

She sheds a bit more light on the job that falls to the illustrator. It's not just about having "pretty" art, or a colorful image. Good things to think about when illustrators are creating portfolio samples as well:

"The characterization is key to everything. It’s very important that the main character can ‘carry’ the story convincingly. Can they make lots of facial expressions, stand in different poses, sit down, kneel, twist etc? Rather annoyingly, I’m sure, I usually ask the illustrator to do pages of characters roughs, working on body shape, expressions and poses."

She likens the thumbnail sketching and planning process to planning a storyboard for a film:

"Films are rarely shot from the same one angle and likewise in picture books, variation in perspective and scale can help add drama and energy, whilst a minimal linear approach can keep a story quiet and simple."

If you want to read the entire article, and see all the lovely pictures, check it out below:

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About Me

Catherine is an illustrator and graphic designer, and a recent BFA graduate from Syracuse University. She has been worked with a variety of clients, both locally and internationally. Catherine has interned at Illustration House in New York, and the Florence International Theatre Company in Italy.
She is an amateur musician and a lover of books, music, movies, and good food.
Check out the website at http://catherinelapointe.com